On the 7th day of Advent...

Have you ever wept - or been disgusted - by the ugly and crass commercialism of Christmas in the United States?  It is something I hear about all the time from colleagues and members of my congregation.  But, like Mark Twain said about the weather, "while everybody complains about it, nobody DOES anything about it!"  Right?  I've been hearing grumbling about the packaging of Christmas since before I can remember and nobody does anything about it.

Except, that is, those scraggly young people encamped around the United States in the various "occupy" staging grounds. They have contributed more to a public lament about commercialization, greed and the selling of our collective soul than any person or group in the past 40 years. In fact, the last serious conversation about such things got Martin Luther King shot: remember, it was his shift away from civil rights to a critique of both the Vietnam War and the systematic impoverishment of millions of Americans that generated his assassination. Imagine what his "poor peoples campaign" would mean in our generation?

I can't help but shake the thought that the occupy children - and their growing allies - are one of the ways God is "bringing us back" as Psalm 85 puts it:

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation towards us.
Will you be angry with us for ever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again,
so that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

In addition to holding the occupy prophets in your prayers - and maybe visiting them - two other resources might be helpful during this time of Advent reflection.

+ The first is a group that has been quietly working to change the way people of faith enter into the Christmas holiday:  Alternatives.  Check them out @ http://simpleliving.startlogic.com/indexoth.php?place=aboutus.php)

+ The second is a more contemporary version called the Advent Conspiracy: the goal is the same but these friends connect more deeply with the evangelical world and those who are web savvy.  Check them out @ http://ac.wcrossing.org/

[AC] Promo 2011 from Advent Conspiracy on Vimeo.

Like many I sense that the old ways are unravelling before my eyes - we cannot sustain the greed or the pain - and more and more are finding ways to express this truth beyond complaining.  Like the ancient Psalmist we long to experience a time when...

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.

The Taize brothers - living as a parable of hope - pray:

Jesus, joy of our hearts, your Gospel assures us that the Kingdom of God is in our midst, and the gates of simplicity, and those of innocence, open within us.